Announce snap polls or face long march, Imran Khan warns Pak govt

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Former prime minister of Pakistan and Chairman Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Monday again warned the federal government to announce early elections as he would not delay his planned long march to­wards Islamabad beyond Octo­ber if his demand was not met.

Addressing a press conference here at Bani Gala hours after his party got thumping majority in the by-polls, Khan said that he was giving a few more days to the government to announce the general elections or it should be ready to face the music.

“I ask them to announce the election date otherwise I have completed my preparations to hold the long march towards Is­lamabad,” he said soon after he chaired a meeting of the party’s senior leadership. He claimed that his protest long march would be peaceful but added: “No one can prevent chaos if the public comes out on roads… No one can guarantee what would be the consequence of it.”

Labelling his party’s victory as a “referendum” against the sit­ting government, he said that the by-polls results showed that the nation has rejected coalition parties. “The people voted for us despite knowing that we are not going to sit in the National As­sembly.” He said that the masses have rejected the ruling parties again and again in the by-polls.

Khan in the presser for the first time admitted that his party had held some backdoor talks but added that things were unclear so far.

“This is because (former prime minister) Nawaz Sharif feels threatened to hold the elec­tions,” he said, adding that Shar­if was actually worried about the rising popularity of PTI. He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Sharif understands that the popularity wave of PTI might diminish with the passage of time if they got more time to delay the elections. “But we are prepared this time and they are doomed to fail.”

The ex-premier once again lashed out at Chief Election Com­missioner Skandar Sultan Raja what he said that CEC was hands in glove with the PML-N and had “planned” the by-polls in conniv­ance with the ruling party only to defeat his party.

“The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in connivance with PML-N only announced elections in those constituencies where we were weak.” He alleged that ruling Pakistan People’s party (PPP) rigged the by-election in NA-237 in Karachi and they had ev­idence of it.

He demanded the CEC to announce re-election in that constituency as he had tak­en action in a by-poll in Daska, Sialkot. Khan claimed that the country would continue facing isolation as long as the coalition parties continue to seize power.

Referring to the recent harsh remarks of US President Joe Biden on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, he said that the gov­ernment should accept failure of its diplomacy. He deplored that America has bracketed Pakistan with its enemy countries includ­ing China and Russia. He accused that no one respected the present rulers because they had stashed the looted money abroad.

The PTI chief claimed that the country was fast moving to­wards default as the govern­ment had no economic plan except covering their corrup­tion. He said that the economy was a matter of national secu­rity as the international lenders would only ask Pakistan to com­promise on its nuclear assets to give it a bailout package.

Referring to the arrest of PTI Senator Azam Swati by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for tweeting against the army chief, Khan claimed that the 75-year-old lawmaker was beaten black and blue in front his grandchildren and servants in the wee hours, and then he was handed over to the agen­cies who also thrashed him, sex­ually tortured and stripped him naked. “Whether it means that they are above the law.”

“This news went viral world­wide that a Pakistani sena­tor was tortured for criticiz­ing the army chief,” Khan said. He also said that this was a big­ger disregard for democracy, the army and the chief of army staff (COAS). He said that this was the responsibility of the Supreme Court to ensure fun­damental rights. He said that they would approach the apex court as to what action was tak­en about custodial torture on Shabaz Gill and journalist Jam­il Faooque.

Khan said that his party meet­ing had decided that they would summon special sessions of the Punjab and Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa assemblies to discuss the issue of custodial torture on Senator Swati besides ap­proaching the Supreme Court and the international human rights bodies on the issue. He deplored that Chairman Chair­man Sadiq Sanjrani did not is­sue production orders of the senator and questioned “what threat he was feeling?”

The Chairman PTI without naming any one said that one person was responsible for tor­ture on journalists and his party leaders as such incidents are on the rise since he has been post­ed in Islamabad. “This person is violating the Constitution, caus­ing disrepute to the country and is making efforts to create ha­tred against institutions,” he said. He demanded that action should be taken against this re­sponsible person.

Responding to a question, he said that the “corrupt poli­ticians” like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zaradri should not have the authority to appoint the next chief of army staff. “COAS should be appointed on merit.” (The Nation)